dawnward: (walk)
Riku ([personal profile] dawnward) wrote in [community profile] museboxings2012-03-31 11:34 pm

KH3D Museboxing -- SPOILERS IMMINENT

Who: Riku and Ienzo
When: Post-KH3D
Where: Radiant Garden
Summary: A young Keybearer runs into some old ghosts of the past.
Warnings: SPOILERS FOR KH3D


[Diving is so easy now that he's practiced it numerous times. To go back to Destiny Islands is like snapping his fingers, but he can't afford to stay at home for long. He has work he needs to do, work he knows only he can do it. There's so many things left undone. He has to see what he can do without relying on Yen Sid and Mickey alone.

Radiant Garden is his destination.

He passes through the streets with an odd feeling of deja vu, though no one stops to give him a second glance. It's strange. He almost expects someone to tug him aside and point fingers at him, but then...no. No, no one knows what he's done. His paranoia makes little sense.

He walks to the castle, undeterred. He knows Lea will be there but he doesn't care. He wants his answers.

Riku slips in the front door and heads down to Ansem's office first, following a path he's known from so long ago and engrained in his memory.]
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Cleaning House)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-01 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
[There is so very much more to put in order, and to do. Putting the castle back together and disassembling the machinery was no easy task, and perhaps a blessing in disguise, to stay preoccupied.

Aeleus and Dilan took turns keeping vigil, along with an eye out for Lea's return. Even is also off, securing other parts of the laboratories. His tempers have been even wilder since coming to his senses.

The sorting and cataloging of scattered data is a convenient excuse to shut himself in the quiet of their old master's office and immerse himself in the information, not to dwell too long on the sentiments of a restored heart, or the fact that he's home in this room again. Nor to allow the worry of uncertainty to rise for their missing membership. Whatever did become of Braig? And where is Xehanort now, if he survived the ordeals at all?

Ienzo neatly labels a new folder for a sheaf of loose papers, and is just about to file those away when there are footsteps down the hall, and a familiar scent-

Panic seizes up in his lungs and in that moment he can't recall if the right name is Aeleus or Lexaeus his mouth should be forming around the shout for. It hisses out in a gasp instead, and his eyes lift in expectant alarm to the doorway.]
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Explainations)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-01 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
[It did not feel like so very long ago, that Riku had left him drained and astonished, bewildered once again by the incredible strengths of hearts, and also darkness...it was not long thereafter at all, either, that the copy took the last of his body's life.

Rebirth sheds such a new light on things. He's unsure what to do, when Riku locks eyes with him, taller now, as if so much time had passed between their encounter in Castle Oblivion and with a sureness in his eyes that bears no trace of fear or self-doubting.

All the same, that voice (though older) is certainly the same person.

He's relieved to have the desk between them, but even beyond that he takes a hesitant step back in precaution, fingers white-knuckling the edges of the folder.

Call for Aeleus. Just call for Aeleus.]


Not anymore.

[He manages with a slight shake of his head, eyes still raking this older Riku in wary dismay.]
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Another Chapter)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-01 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
[A surprising question to come first, showing with a frown and a squint, as Ienzo really hadn't the faintest clue Riku had so much as met Axel before.

Guarded, he considers the other door, leading to the main computer and manufactory.

Why should he answer these demanding questions?]


Lea only woke here. [His gaze and a nudge of his head indicate the next room over. His heart was trembling- and this was embarrassing, even as his fears were held steady.] But as far as I'm aware, he has not yet returned.

[Why was Riku looking for him? Ienzo hated feeling so disoriented, particularly about the motives of potential enemies. He wasn't too put off from the idea of letting Riku tail Lea, but... why?

The question about Braig brought a darkening look to his features, pulling his head back so that his hair concealed most of the frown.]


And he is still unaccounted for at present.

[Just how much time had passed, for that boy who intruded upon the lower floors to stand before him now, so tall? It had been hard to conceive over a year's time lost, until this moment. Now his eyes gauge carefully, and there are so many unanswered questions, piling atop one another. He starts with the courteous one.

Unfortunately the irony does seem to drag off his lips in way that sounds warily facetious.]


How...else may I help you?
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - New Page)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-01 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps he dawdled for ice cream?

[Ienzo suggests with a slow shrug, and with a dry dislike evident in his voice, rounding the table in the opposite direction to keep it a full barrier between himself and Riku as he moves into the next room-

Has Riku been down here before? Even as she multiplied the heartless, the Sorceress Maleficent had not touched this place, their late master's study, preferring the main parts of the castle. But perhaps the Heartless had shown him this way, while possessing-

He shudders slightly with memory and slides his hand into his labcoat, holding a hand pressed against his chest.]


In any case, don't imagine he intends to stay here, once he's located his friend.

[Riku's request, on the other hand, is something which makes him straighten and frown with a skeptical raise of his chin.

Ansem's notes?]


His research has accumulated to a vast collection, over the years. [Ugh. His tone sounds adopted from what Even would say, proud in the ways of academia and the inheritance of Ansem's scholarship. Ienzo's uncertain what the lending or viewing policy is, or should be. Let alone to the ones who were vessels of Xehanort.]

The Database has been restored, but-

[And are they rightful inheritors now of the research, at all? Or are they merely its undeserving keepers, for now, until the people of Radiant Garden should demand a new regime, and decide what's to be done with Ansem's work.

What should Riku need to see, moreover? Ienzo stands curiously, and follows his gaze across the many diagrams.]


What is it you're looking for?
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Older Wiser)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-01 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
[It's just as strange, the way he stands at ease, awkward to find himself here. Not nearly so hostile as before. Ienzo cocks his head and squint- but clearly he knew the whole of who they were, as both members of The Organization and Ansem's apprentices.

He should call out for the others. To be making this decision alone, how Riku ought to be received- it was nearly easier in Castle Oblivion, where the clearest route, once their numbers had dwindled, seemed to be disposal. But there's no time to regroup. Even or Dilan would likely only bicker with him over what should be done about it, anyway.

And Riku came here asking for Lea, of all people! Had Axel's treachery extended to lending aid to that boy who went to the darkness, after he'd bested Lexaeus?

There's just not enough time for a calculated decision. Ienzo...decides that perhaps he should stall for time.]


Hm. Come with me this way, if you please.

[He waves Riku around the desk, towards the low row of shelving set behind it- only recently reorganized, trying to make sense of the collection. Ansem the Heartless, he presumed, had tore through the information here more than once. That made him consider Riku warily again.

His scent had changed much. The darkness is more identifiable as his own.]


There are an abundance of projects- most of them are stored on the computer, in the next room. But we hadn't converted all of the older materials- some of those are in hard copy here.

Just...What is it you're attempting to parse out?
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Another Chapter)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-02 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. [There's a strange and thoughtful expression which crosses his face, a closed frown. The last time he'd heard of that, outside of it's generic connections Kingdom Hearts... on the stairs, at man headquarters-] The Keyblade Wars.

[His gaze follows Riku's, along the shelves, then aside, considering with a soured squint. Why hasn't he returned with the others? Lea didn't promise when he'd return with answers, only that he'd take care of the dirty work. Good riddance. Let him lose himself between the worlds, trying to find two more bad seeds. One of them fixated on the very subject that Riku is here to know more about. A shame Braig isn't here. He'd certainly regale this chosen vessel of Xehanort's with enough avid enthusiasm to wake the sleeping demons.

Better, then, that he is not.]


That's...probably with Braig's things.

[There's a soft distance in his voice- a somberness, in his tired sigh. As irritating as he was, there's an element missing without Braig, or Xigbar. He's a force of personality, certainly that can't be denied in his absence.

What does Riku want with the documents? Is he on the hunt for Xehanort's past as well? If so- is it wise to set him on the trail?]


Master Ansem never taught me that piece of history. I've heard the simple stories that were told to children, about the legend, of course.

As for the experimental data, well- [Ienzo hasn't yet dared to look upon the data left behind here, when they cast off for other worlds and abandoned the hollow to Heartless.] Let's hope the files haven't been corrupted.
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - New Page)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-02 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Or, [Ienzo's eyes fall on the chair of his old master, voice too gentle for a statement so caustic, and murmured so exacting from memory on the tongue that they could not be his own.] We keep ourselves Wise by holding others in ignorance.

[Then his gaze flits anxiously to wall beyond it, where the back of a framed canvas is still leaning. Aeleus did him an enormous and unspoken favor the other day, noticing his long stares, and turned Xehanort's portrait around to face the wall, so that Xehanort's eyes did not seem to linger on them.]

Who can say for certain why it was not taught in earnest? Successors to a King should know of the realms beyond their bastions of light- should they not?

[There's a pointed pause- and a watchful eye, and if he's expecting these words to strike some distant chord. A litmus test. Surely if He is not asleep, then the Seeker of Darkness should recognize his own slow poisons of ideas spoken aloud...even after ten years. Time is nothing, to a Heartless.]

Braig's stories of Keyblade wielders, fighting in epic battles, were taken as no more than his usual wild fancies, until we saw them with our own eyes.

[Riku's eyes drift intentionally to the next room, and Ienzo folds his arms and takes a further step closer to the desk, as if to imply he's not about to stand in his way.]

Ah. So you already do know your way around, then.
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Cleaning House)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-02 06:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Curiosity, both the harbinger of chaos and the impetus of progress. Ienzo is very tempted to call Riku a hypocrite again, but then the darkling's smile admits it first.]

Some old friends.

[He answers cryptically, with a half shrug, because he's not about to name his associates. Riku can guess for himself which of them are here, if Braig is not. Surely Lea's already given him some idea, if that's who he's really looking for.

So let him wonder if he's about to run headlong in Aeleus as he turns every corner.]


I didn't know that you've been all the way down here. Your mistress of darkness kept her business here singly focused upon the Keyhole. The heartless bred naturally, within her presence.

[Plainspoken fact, but with a certain soured note of disdain and revulsion for Maleficent, and for Riku too, for casting lots with her, if only for a time.]
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Another Chapter)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-03 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
[A year ago. It's absolutely astonishing, to think he's lost at least a year's time in the space between lives.

It's almost frightening. Riku has surely advanced within that span of time, and there's no telling the things he has already gleaned from earlier visits.

Ienzo follows him out of the office, and to the doorway of the computer room. It fills him with a little bit of residual dread, a tightness in his throat, to be standing here again. He folds his arms and lingers at his far left, watching.

If the others return, and ask why he allowed Riku to extract such a thing from their data, he can always claim that he'd been overpowered and without help.]


So it has been abandoned like this, for that long?
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Explainations)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-03 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
[Ienzo can see the Computer from here- not the content of everything he's pulling up, searching for...but there's a little bit of fear, for what he might find there.

A memory of Ansem the Wise, incredulous upon finding the data of their experiments. Ordering the projects to be sealed up and never spoken of again.

For many years, the Organization avoided Hollow Bastion too, unwilling to 'come home' and sift through all of the damages and ruin the heartless had wrought upon it. Now, it was...

It was surreal, how much of everything remained largely intact.]


The rest of the Organization?

[He questions quietly, still staring...and then he purses his mouth, curious.]

Do you know what ever happened, that we should be revived now? [How much Riku should know of the Organization's goals, he's hesitant to say but- the question is breathless of his tongue before he can quite still it.] Has Kingdom Hearts released its boon?
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Older Wiser)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-03 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
[Riku must have learned much about them, if he knew all of their true names, and more of Radiant Garden's history than he'd originally assumed.

Were these things that the darkness in his heart, that the second one called Ansem had shown him?]


I don't know.

[Ienzo replies honestly, although he's troubled by two things- one, that Riku never answered his question, and also that Xehanort's name still rings small chills racing down his back, and that feeling the portrait, even still turned 'round to face the wall, is still watching them.

His eyes lower to the floor, where he had woken up to Aeleus shaking him gently, in hopes of revival- how shocked he'd been, to find an old colleague thought dead hovering over him. And then the flood of so many other emotions.

The only way he'd been able to seal them off was by pressing mind firmly over matter, and trying to continue thinking in the same way of detached reason he had tried to do for the past decade.

It doesn't work, not completely. There's something scratchy and raw with strain in his voice, when he speaks, trapped up emotions that have to be continually swallowed back. Sometimes they leave his fingertips trembling, a quiet hot feeling behind the eyes, like an ever-present headache, or onset of a cold.]


He and Braig might have already gone, or may have never returned at all.
illicitresearch: (Sepia Printing)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-03 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
[His eyes linger on the way Riku's hand clenches, and his nostril's flare at the scent of darkness- not so familiar, like the Superior's, this time. So, this must be the scent of his own darkness.]

I don't know where they are. [Ienzo repeats steadily, with his voice quavering only as it drops down low with an unsettled wariness. At both Riku here, and the idea of those two missing. The feeling that this is not how it was planned to go, and that there's too much information that has failed to be passed along.] ...or if they even exist at all.
illicitresearch: (Ienzo - Explainations)

[personal profile] illicitresearch 2012-04-03 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, so Braig is with Xehanort?

[His eyes seem more hurt with betrayal of abandonment, than they are satisfied with having an answer at last. Hadn't they planned to go together, into these projects, until the end of all things?

Riku's gaze is sharp, and his voice dangerous. Ienzo sets a hand to his throat, rubbing there, and trying desperately the forget the feeling of having the life wrung out of him, draining quickly into a sea of blackness, and then a long stretch of nothingness.

Being a Nobody feels like time spent in a waking dream, and one he still has yet to recover up from fully.

Emotions like stark relief and gratitude haven't settled deeply in yet- regret has been a steady ache of taking in the damages, and remorse is something he's already had to console to a manageable level in Aeleus. Something he's shunted to the side for now, with the work of rebuilding. There's too many other feelings finding their way back into the long-neglected nest of his heart.]


The science of the miracle, as we know it, is a simple concept:

[He breathes out steadily, because facts and explanations he can force out in remote and technical murmurings, leaving his heart free to mull vacantly over its own long-atrophied functions, now back in full bloom. Already, he wants to sit down again.]

When a heartless is destroyed by the keyblade, the hearts released return to Kingdom Hearts, the birthplace of all hearts. And if the cast off shell is also destroyed in turn, then two are recombined and may be reborn as one, in the place they were originally separated.

If their world has been lost to the Darkness, then they may reawaken as refugees, in a place called Traverse Town. I believe you have already made your journey there.

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